Live US midterm elections 2018 live: America votes on the future of Congress and Donald Trump’s presidency – latest news

America is heading to the polls today for the first time since Donald Trump took office, with majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate hanging in the balance.

Mr Trump, the US president, has used a nationwide campaign blitz to issue dire warnings about the threat posed by illegal immigration and claim credit for the soaring US economy.

Democrats, spearheaded in the final few days by former president Barack Obama, have focussed on healthcare, an issue ranked high on voters’ list of priorities and one the party leadership believes is a Republican weak spot.

On paper, the Democrats should take back the House. They need to flip just 23 seats to secure a majority – more than doable given historical trends and Mr Trump’s low personal approval rating.

Winning back the Senate is considerably harder, despite the Republicans only holding a slim 51-to-49 seat majority.

Three quarters of Senate seats up for re-election this year are held by Democrats, many competing in states Mr. Trump won in 2016.

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Joel Cholo Brooks is a Liberian journalist who previously worked for several international news outlets including the BBC African Service. He is the CEO of the Global News Network which publishes two local weeklies, The Star and The GNN-Liberia Newspapers. He is a member of the Press Union Of Liberia (PUL) since 1986, and several other international organizations of journalists, and is currently contributing to the South Africa Broadcasting Corporation as Liberia Correspondent.